ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s Interior Ministry said Sunday it had dismantled a criminal network that allegedly exploited financially vulnerable citizens through predatory loans and coerced them into selling their kidneys to settle mounting debts.
The Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency (FIIA) arrested all four alleged members of the network, including two women, following an intelligence-led operation in Baghdad’s al-Rusafa district, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry described the operation as a “severe blow to a criminal network drowning citizens in debt and forcing them to sell their organs.”
According to the ministry, the suspects allegedly lured low-income people with loans carrying exorbitant interest rates and impossible repayment conditions, subsequently resorting to blackmail and coercion to force victims to sell their kidneys to repay their debts.
The ministry’s announcement and the separate police operation underscore concerns over organ trafficking and the exploitation of vulnerable people in Iraq.
Baghdad’s al-Rusafa Police Command announced earlier this month the arrest of two men suspected of trafficking human organs after one allegedly planned to travel abroad to sell a kidney for 14 million Iraqi dinars ($9,200).
The recent arrests followed intelligence indicating that an organized criminal group was exploiting economically disadvantaged people. A specialized task force was subsequently formed, and the suspects were apprehended after judicial warrants were obtained, according to the statement.
The agency said it would continue targeting criminal networks that exploit citizens’ living conditions and threaten public security.
